


New York

by PrismaticKnope



Series: Inspired by Ed Sheeran Songs [2]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hamilton References, New York
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrismaticKnope/pseuds/PrismaticKnope
Summary: A new love, in New York // a Leslie and Ben friends to lovers fic





	

**Author's Note:**

> It took me a few months, but here is the second installment of my Benslie fics inspired by Ed Sheeran songs series. This time I choose the song New York from the Wembley Edition of his album Multiply.
> 
> Enjoy!

Exactly 29 years ago Leslie and Ben became friends, not best friends but friends. According to Leslie, their best friend anniversary was exactly two months later. 

To be honest, 29 years was nothing really special but Ben had decided to surprise Leslie big time. Partly to pay back for all the surprises she had for him over the past years and partly because he had a great plan.

Ever since the off-Broadway run of Hamilton Leslie had been talking non-stop about the musical and somehow, with the help of his brother, Ben got tickets to see the musical on their friendship anniversary. 

That was over a year ago, after a long wait it was finally the day. Leslie only knew they were going to New York for some kind of George Washington walking tour through the city and of course she was way too excited for it. She even made custom shirts for the occasion, which was super cute.

Once they left the airplane he had handed over the tickets for Hamilton and Leslie had a full on freak out in the middle of the airport. 

She even made the surprised face. It was pretty great. 

After that the time literally flew by. They dropped off their luggage at the hotel, went to the theatre and in no time both Leslie and Ben were crying. First out of happiness and later on in the play out of pure sadness. In no time the actors were singing ‘Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story’.

When the show ended and everyone left the room Ben and Leslie had to take a full minute to take in the past two and a half hours. 

‘’I didn’t think I would be able to cry even more that I would at home while listening to it’’ Leslie said while a huge grin formed on her face.

‘’That was pretty damn amazing’’ Ben answered.

Leslie jumped up and gave Ben a bear hug. 

‘’Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you’’ she said excitedly.

‘’No problem Les, I’m glad you liked it.’’

‘’I swear, you would have made me happy with a mug or something. But this, you win this year Wyatt’’ she said before she applauded quietly for him.

He bowed graciously ‘’Well thank you miss Knope. Let’s go back to the hotel and order some pizza to celebrate this great day.’’

‘’Sounds like a great plan to me!’’ she said while following Ben into the foyer.

They both turned their phones on again while chatting more about the performance until Leslie suddenly stops.

‘’I have like 20 missed calls from Dave’’ she said, immediately dialling Dave’s number.

It seemed like no surprise that Dave would be his overprotective self and check on Leslie every second of the day. He probably didn’t know they were at a musical and kept trying to call Leslie while her phone was off.

Ben wasn’t too bothered by Dave most of the time, but now he felt a bit annoyed. It’s not like he would ‘steal’ Leslie away from him. Give Leslie a freaking break.

Meanwhile Leslie told Ben he should check out the merchandise while she went to a quieter place.

He went to the merchandise stand and bought nearly everything, including a mug. Once he was done he looked around the foyer and Leslie was nowhere to be seen.

After a few panicky rounds around the foyer he found Leslie in a corner sobbing. Without thinking twice he quickly sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

‘’He… he broke up with me’’ Leslie sobbed.

‘’Oh god’’ was all Ben could say before he tightened his grip on her. 

‘’He said he had been thinking about his future lately and he didn’t really see me in it’’ she said quietly while still sobbing. ‘’He’s even moving to stupid San Diego now’’ she muttered before breaking down into sobs again.

‘’He’s such a douche Les, how dare he break up with you over the freaking phone.’’

They just sat there for a long time, Leslie sobbing and Ben reassuring her.

After a while Ben came up with a plan. ‘’You deserve way better Les, let’s go to a bar and have a few drinks, try to forget about this jerk’’ he said while slowly standing up.

‘’That actually seems like a pretty good idea,’’ Leslie said while Ben helped her stand up ‘‘alcohol seems like the best answer.’’

Leslie quickly wiped her tears away ‘’do I look okay?’’

‘’Perfect’’ he answered before taking her hand and dragging her out of the theatre. 

Once they were outside Ben started frantically searching for a bar. They walked quietly around the city and after a while they found the perfect bar. Not too busy but still cosy. A place the Dutch would call ‘gezellig’.

They found a booth and immediately started drinking.

With each drink Leslie became less and less depressing. They kept ordering more drinks and before she knew it they were both full on, snake juice drunk.

‘’Ya know, Ann would push me to watch some romcom and talk about my feelings’’ she slurred ‘’but with you I can just straight up get drunk and I appre.. app… appreciate that.’’

Ben somehow decided to respond with a giggle. ‘’Lesieeeee,’’ he said before taking another sip of his drink ‘’it will all be fine, have another drink.’’

They kept babbling to each other for hours. As the night passed it got later and later. At around 3 o’clock the owner of the bar walked over to them. 

‘’Okay, love birds. Time to leave, we’re about to close’’ he told them while picking up their empty glasses.

It took a few seconds before a proper response formed itself in Ben’s mouth.

‘’Oh no, we’re just the bestest of friends’’ he answered while giggling like a mad man.

‘’C’mon Benji, I’m sure there are more drinks at the hotel’’ Leslie said while frantically searching for her coat. 

Once Ben had pointed out that she was actually already wearing the coat she was searching for they ran out of the bar and searched the streets of New York for a cab, which in their drunken state took surprisingly long.

The cab ride was weird. 

With the help of the high amount of alcohol they had consumed, the two friends spend their drive to the hotel from being flirty, to being super happy, to being completely silent. And that only in about 10 minutes time.

Soon the cab arrived at the hotel and they quickly found their room.

‘’It’s just a shitty thing and I’m super drunk and I wanna sleep, where’s the snake juice? Night Benji’’ she muttered to herself before falling asleep on top of Ben.

Ben couldn’t be bothered to move either and fell asleep a few seconds later.

___

The next day Ben woke up with the worst headache in ages, he really was too old now for this whole getting drunk thing. 

The second thing he noticed was Leslie, who had wrapped her arms and legs around him in her sleep, koala style.

Weirdly, in their 29 years of friendship they had never been in this situation before. It was strange, but it didn’t feel wrong.

He softly moved a strand of hair out of her face while looking at her sleeping face. 

It wasn’t like he had never thought about being more than just friends before, but somehow either one of them was always dating someone else. Maybe Dave breaking up with Leslie was some kind of sign, maybe this was the only chance he had left.

Leslie started shifting and she slowly opened her eyes. Once she had opened her eyes it took a good few seconds before she realised what she was doing.

Her eyes widened and she immediately let go of Ben.

‘’Sorry’’ she muttered quietly before realising that her head felt like it was exploding. 

‘’Damn, this feels like the snake juice night all over again’ she continued while holding her head searching for relief.

Ben gently got out of the bed to search through his suitcase for some advil. He gave some to Leslie before grabbing some water for her.

‘’Take this, okay? I’m going to take a quick shower’’ he said to her before walking over to the bathroom.

Leslie took the advil and started thinking about the night before. 

Ben was the most amazing friend ever and got the both of them Hamilton tickets, they went to the show and it was amazing. Dave broke up with her over the phone after the show. Ben went with her to a bar to drink the pain away and somehow they ended up cuddled together in bed. 

Okay. Weird.

A tiny bit of panic went through Leslie. What had happened? Had she done something stupid? Had she sent Dave some stupid texts? Had she uttered all of her feelings to Ben in her drunken state? Why was Ben so relaxed when she woke up?

She heard Ben turn the shower off and a few minutes later he walked back into the room, hair still wet but thankfully fully clothed.

‘’Ehm.. so about last night’’ he muttered awkwardly while trying not to make eye contact with Leslie.

‘’Yeah, about last night’’ she answered. ‘’Thanks again for being there for me and sorry that I ruined the night. You had so much great stuff planned and I once again ruined everything’’.

He sat down next to her.

‘’You don’t have to apologise to me. You didn’t decide that Dave would just break up with you, especially not in this cowardly way. I had a great night. Any time I get to spend with you is a great time, no matter the situation. Even getting drunk with you is a lot of fun’’ Ben said while finally making eye contact with Leslie.

‘’Well, I’m still super thankful for everything you have done for me. I couldn’t have wished for a better friend and a better way to spend our friendship anniversary’’ she answered. ‘’I don’t think I really remember everything from last night though.’’

‘’Me neither’’ Ben chuckled nervously.

‘’I have one question’’ she said while playing with the hem of her shirt. ‘’Why were you so relaxed when I woke up?’’

Ben took his time to form a proper answer. ‘’I guess I just didn’t mind it. It felt weird but kinda not weird, if that makes sense. I just got me thinking about our friendship, all the stuff we’ve been through and how much I care about you.’’

‘’And maybe in other ways than just friendship..’’ he added after a short pause.

‘’To be completely honest, I’m always too scared to try’’ she answered while slowly looking at him.

‘’I too am scared, 29 years of friendship is not a thing I would like to throw away. But this is not something I would like to ignore either’’ he mumbled.

Leslie felt a wave of courage streaming through her body.

‘’I guess it could be worth a try.’’ 

He looked into her eyes, a small smile forming on his lips. 

‘’Why don’t we just try this?’ she whispered while slowly inching forward. 

He didn’t hesitate to respond to her action. His lips touched hers and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Everything felt right. 

‘’Yeah, let’s try this’’ he said before readjusting to the bed and kissing her again.

 

_A new love, in New York_


End file.
